I was living in the Five Dynasties period, just after crossing the Zhongdu Bridge.

With the fortified village destroyed, what remains is the most ordinary and tedious scene in this chaotic world.

Liquidation.

The battle was over, the fortified village was captured, and the grain and horses were piled up there in plain sight.

This is the biggest truth in chaotic times: the winner takes all.

As dawn broke, Zhang Heng, who had once been arrogant and domineering, was now bound hand and foot and thrown into the courtyard.

Not far from him, the dark-faced man who had helped him didn't rush to rob the goods like ordinary soldiers. Instead, he stood aside, leaning on his blood-stained baton.

He simply watched the chaotic scene before him with indifference.

At the same time, the man was also observing the soldiers under Shen Lie's command who were helping the city in distress.

Logically speaking, after such a fierce battle, the soldiers should have been looting everywhere with bloodshot eyes.

Looting gold and silver, seizing women, and even killing each other over a silver ingot—this was the norm during the chaotic Five Dynasties period.

Although the group in front of them was chaotic and each person had a greedy look on their face, no one dared to hide anything, and no one dared to touch the trembling women and children.

The big, simple-minded man named Liu Qing was leading a squad of guards, keeping a close eye on everyone.

"That's interesting."

The dark-faced man narrowed his eyes.

In this world, the young Defense Commissioner Shen has grand ambitions to control the belts and wallets of his subordinates.

Shen Lie glanced at the man out of the corner of his eye, then temporarily put his mind at ease.

"My lord...My lord Shen! Spare me!"

When Zhang Heng saw Shen Lie looking at him, a glimmer of hope appeared on his face. He was clearly not ready to die, and his body writhed on the ground like a maggot.

"I was blinded by greed! I was drunk and made a fool of myself! Please spare my life!"

Shen Lie sat in the chair, took the water Liu Qing handed him and drank it slowly without answering.

Killing Zhang Heng was inevitable.

This is not only for those people whose hearts and gallbladders were removed.

This team also needs a sacrifice to establish its authority.

In this chaotic world, kindness may win people's hearts, but only ruthless measures can establish absolute authority.

The remaining surrendered soldiers of Zhangjiawu, if they could not see the head of their former master, would always harbor that inappropriate thought in their hearts.

"My lord!"

Seeing that Shen Lie remained silent, Zhang Heng became even more anxious.

"I'm useful! There's still grain stored in this fortified village, and hundreds of obedient brothers! I know every blade of grass and every tree in Jiexiu! If you spare me, I'll be your dog! I'll bite whoever you tell me to bite!"

That's true.

In this chaotic world, a local strongman like Zhang Heng, if he were willing to sincerely submit, would indeed be a useful weapon.

If it were any other pragmatic warlord from the Fifth Generation, they might have simply gone with the flow, given him a few dozen lashes, and then let him redeem himself through meritorious service.

After all, killing a fierce general for the sake of those already dead civilians seems like a terrible deal to outsiders.

But Shen Lie remained silent.

He simply drew the sword from his waist and wiped the blood off the blade with a rag.

As Shen Lie fell silent, the hope in Zhang Heng's eyes gradually faded.

When fear reaches its extreme, it becomes anger.

With no way to survive, Zhang Heng's roguish, unruly spirit returned.

When people are about to die, they often dare to speak out about many truths that they wouldn't normally dare to say.

"Hey Shen! What do you mean by not saying anything?!"

Zhang Heng struggled for a moment, and the veins on his neck bulged.

"You want to play the saint? You want to use my head to buy people's hearts? Bah!"

"Who do you think you are? You're nothing but a dog!"

Zhang Heng roared. In his view, since he was bound to die, there was no need to beg for mercy. He might as well curse him out.

"You killed me for those two women? Bah!"

"That Liu Zhiyuan! He slaughtered Bai Chengfu's entire family for money, that's hundreds of lives! Why didn't you draw your sword against him?!"

"Shi Hongzhao killed fewer people in Hedong than I did? His soldiers always brought sheep as rations on their campaigns, yet you didn't chop off Shi Hongzhao's head! Nor did you turn against Liu Zhiyuan!"

"You wouldn't dare! You're just a hypocrite who bullies the weak and fears the strong!"

"You only dare to take your anger out on someone like me who has no connections! If it were Shi Hongzhao sitting there eating people today, you'd probably be handing him salt!"

These words were extremely harsh and hurtful, yet also deeply malicious.

The guards around him paled, and Yang Ting flew into a rage, drawing his sword to strike: "You son of a bitch! You dare to spout nonsense even when you're about to die!"

"Wait a minute."

But Shen Lie waved his hand, stopping Yang Ting.

He finally raised his head and looked directly at the dying man.

That is indeed a good question.

Although Zhang Heng's words were a sophistry, they also exposed the absurdity of this era.

Why can Shi Hongzhao do it, but Zhang Heng can't?

Why is it that when a major warlord kills someone, it's considered pacifying the country, but when a minor warlord kills someone, it's considered utterly immoral?

This is what is meant by "He who steals a hook is punished, he who steals a country becomes a prince".

Shen Lie himself knew that if he really had any moral fastidiousness, he shouldn't have sided with Shi Hongzhao or accepted Liu Zhiyuan's official appointment.

Every grain of ration he produces and every batch of weapons he carries may be stained with the blood of innocent people.

In a sense, Zhang Heng wasn't wrong to call him a hypocrite.

But Shen Lie knew something more clearly.

Even a hypocrite is a little bit better than a real beast.

This tiny point is the dividing line between humans and beasts.

"Finished yelling?"

Shen Lie looked at Zhang Heng, who was panting heavily, and said softly, "Now that you've finished cursing, let's get going."

"You..." Zhang Heng's eyes widened, seemingly not expecting Shen Lie's reaction to be so indifferent.

"You're right."

Shen Lie stood up, picked up his knife, and walked up to Zhang Heng. "In this world, no matter who it is, no one has clean hands. I, Shen Lie, am no saint either. To survive, I have to bow my head and pretend to be deaf and dumb."

This is a fact. In this era of moral decay, if you want to survive and climb the social ladder, you have to learn to bow down to greater evils.

This isn't hypocrisy, this is survival.

"but."

Shen Lie changed the subject, slightly raising the horizontal sword in his hand, "On my turf, things have to be done my way."

"My rule is simple: people cannot eat people."

Shen Lie bent down and spoke in a voice that only the two of them could hear.

"I can't touch them because my knife isn't fast enough right now, but that doesn't mean I have to tolerate a beast like you."

"Meeting them forced me to bow my head, but meeting you made me not want to."

Zhang Heng was stunned. He didn't expect Shen Lie to admit it so readily, and he certainly didn't expect Shen Lie to give such an unreasonable answer.

He opened his mouth, as if he wanted to say something.

But Shen Lie didn't give him another chance.

He swung his sword down.

Because the blade was chipped quite a bit, the cut was not clean and ended up stuck on the neck.

Zhang Heng let out a miserable scream, his body convulsing uncontrollably.

Shen Lie remained expressionless, gripping the hilt of the knife with both hands, and used his body weight to press down hard once more.

Only when the head finally rolled to the ground did Shen Lie exhale a breath of pent-up frustration.

He glanced around at the silent surrendered soldiers and the soldiers of Fuwei with complex expressions.

"You saw everything?"

"From now on, anyone who wants to eat this meat should first ask the knife in my hand if it will allow it."

No one dared to speak.

The dark-faced man standing to the side straightened up, picked up his whistle, and strode towards Shen Lie.

"Excellent swordsmanship."

When Shen Lie saw the man approaching, he first clasped his hands in a salute, and then spoke.

"My name is Shen Lie, currently serving as the Commander of the Great Han's Pacifying and Protecting Command, and concurrently as the Defense Commissioner of Yaozhou. May I ask your guidance?"

The dark-faced man walked closer, glanced at the headless corpse on the ground, then at the young defense commander who was wiping his face with his sleeve, and returned the greeting.

"My name is Zhao Kuangyin."